Miles Yates instinctively bent down to pick up Wendy Aldridge’s skirt hem, gentlemanly lifting his hand to let her walk ahead.
Wendy had an apologetic look on her face, but even more pink bubbles in her eyes. After thanking him, she took the lead, walking towards the candlelight and cameras, glittering like a star.
At that moment, the viewers in front of their screens couldn’t help thinking that even though Wendy didn’t have Renee Morgan’s striking features, she did have more presence on camera? More of a star aura?
Wendy could feel all eyes on her; she knew she’d achieved her goal. She understood clearly that early on in the show, with no fanbase and no popularity, she had to ride the coattails of Miles Yates and Zara Chapman. Otherwise, it’d be nearly impossible to stand out. And facts proved her theory right.
Blushing, Wendy shyly accepted a rose from her little assistant, and seemed to deliberately hide in the crowd to avoid attention, lining up to present the rose to Miles Yates.
After the girls finished offering their roses under the backdrop of the song, everyone finally wished Miles Yates a happy birthday in unison.
Only then did Zara Chapman arrive, fashionably late. She brought Miles a bouquet, explaining that she was delayed waiting for the flowers.
Miles didn’t mind at all; the others rushed to praise her thoughtfulness, saying that with such short notice, none of them had prepared gifts.
Right at that moment, Wendy sat next to Miles and spoke up shyly: "I didn’t have time to prepare a gift either, but I know Mr. Yates loves folk music, especially Chloe Callahan’s songs. I have an original handwritten sheet by Ms. Callahan herself. I’d like to give it to you, Mr. Yates."
She took a notebook out of her bag, its pages filled with hand-drawn musical notes, messy but still recognizable, showing snippets of different songs—clearly a rare treasure.
Miles’s love for Chloe Callahan was no secret; you could pick up on it in countless interviews.
"Ah, none of us got a gift ready. Wendy, how do you have Chloe Callahan’s handwritten manuscript?" Lynn Miller was stunned. Chloe was the hottest female singer in the indie folk scene right now; maybe not everyone was a diehard, but everyone had definitely heard a couple of her songs.
Wendy tilted her head, her smile sweet: "I’m a fan too! I’ve collected a bunch of memorabilia about her."
Chloe Callahan had a habit of inviting fans to submit lyrics. Once, on a whim, Wendy wrote some lyrics for her. Unexpectedly, Chloe adopted them. As part of the deal, Wendy asked for her handwritten draft paper. Chloe agreed and mailed her the manuscript.
"..."
After hearing Wendy’s explanation, everyone realized what had happened and looked at her with genuine appreciation.
On the screen, viewers chattered away with gossip and curiosity about Wendy’s lyrics, with even more blowing sweet nothings her way, amazed by her talent.
[...]
Miles glanced at Wendy with a colder look and asked, "Can I see the lyrics you wrote?"
Wendy gave an embarrassed laugh: "Of course! But I still haven’t heard her release this song yet."
She pulled out the original lyric manuscript from her bag.
The PD was tactful, only giving a quick shot of one corner of the page.
Miles looked at the lyrics, a flash of surprise in his eyes. "You really wrote this?"
Wendy felt a flash of guilt—the story was true, but she hadn’t really written the lyrics. The manuscript was something she snatched up, but the real author would never expose her, and even if Chloe Callahan saw this show, she’d never deny it. After all, Chloe didn’t know any of them, though Wendy really had made a similar deal online with another fan.
"Yeah, it really was just a spur of the moment thing at the time. So much time has passed, I wonder if Ms. Callahan is ever planning to use it?" Wendy seized the moment, pleading on camera for her idol to release the song, which made everyone burst out laughing.
Since coming on the show, Miles had always kept a lofty, aloof attitude—after all, he and Zara were the biggest names invited by the production. But right now, even he couldn’t help giving Wendy a hug. "Thanks for the gift, I really like it."
Thunderous applause broke out on set.
Wendy’s heart was pounding faster. Her gaze darted to Renee Morgan as she asked in a clear voice, "On the drive here, Renee kept talking about Mr. Yates’s birthday. What gift did you get him, Renee?"
The little assistant’s eyes went wide behind Miles—how did Renee know today was Miles’s lunar birthday ahead of time?
After today’s live broadcast was announced, even the fans had no idea, let alone anyone else.
Everyone turned their eyes toward Renee.
If Renee tried to explain that she’d never talked about any of that, she’d be calling out Miles on the spot; but if she didn’t, she really had nothing to give as a present.
This was a blatant trap.
In her dream, Renee had been stuck by this very trap, left with no way out, neither advancing nor retreating.
It was also thanks to this occasion that Wendy not only forged a bond with Miles Yates but also won favor all around, gaining more and more popularity. After all, in the entertainment industry, social connections are key for an artist to break out. Without support, unless your work is truly outstanding, you’ll only make it big much later, if ever.
Renee had already anticipated this, but she still couldn’t help admiring Wendy’s cunning—she herself only saw all this so clearly because of her prophetic dreams, but Wendy was just a fresh graduate! This level of scheming would help her stand out in any field; the only pity was for those who became her target.
Wendy was waiting for Renee to speak up. Miles was a second-generation rich kid, background both mysterious and powerful. If Renee dared offend him, she could kiss her breakout moments on this show goodbye.
"Yeah..." Renee, suddenly singled out, showed a helpless smile and didn’t bother explaining how she’d supposedly known about Miles’s lunar birthday: "I only just found out today was Mr. Yates’s birthday."
She didn’t deny Wendy’s words, but it was written all over her body language—she really had only just learned about Miles’s birthday.
Everyone looked at Wendy with ambiguous expressions. Why was she acting so extra?
The sharp-eyed viewers caught on too, flooding the chat with confusion: [How did Renee know about Miles Yates’s lunar birthday when literally no one else online did?]
[??? Did I watch a fake livestream all day? I remember Renee was napping the whole ride! When did she ever mention Miles’s birthday? If she’d said a word, the internet would’ve blown up. No need for the assistant to announce it!]
Some even called Wendy out directly: [Wendy lied. Renee never mentioned anything about Miles’s birthday. Wendy knew Renee wouldn’t have time to prepare a gift and set her up on purpose.]
In truth, from the time the assistant called everyone out to the lawn, nobody actually had time to prepare a present. Even Zara was running late just to fetch a bouquet, not to mention that the assistant had already said—no gifts would be accepted today, birthday or not!
Wendy definitely knew what she was doing, putting Renee in a tough spot. If it had been an accident, maybe it could be forgiven; but doing it on purpose like this, that’s really hard to warm up to.